Blurred Lines
by illbesmilin
Summary: It only took one small lapse in judgement and thirty-two seconds of his truck spinning and tumbling out of control for his life to be permanently changed. Everyone else might be able to move on and forget, but not Troy Bolton. -T&G-
1. prologue

**I'd love to know what you think. If there's enough interest, next chapter will be out next week.  
**

* * *

_In the night, headlights call my name_

_-Twenty One Pilots, "Fake You Out"_

* * *

Everything was a blur.

His mind was all over the place, not being able to focus on anything or anyone. It was like watching an old YouTube video with crappy quality where everything was pixilated. He could somewhat make out things, but there was no way he knew if what he was seeing was really there. What he did know though? He was beyond drunk.

It was the perfect time to really cut loose and cut loose he did. Everyone he knew was doing the same thing and he didn't even have a second thought about it. Many people would stay after and the people who would go home had walked here and lived in the neighborhood. There was nothing to worry about and he would see everyone that mattered in a few days and they would grin knowingly at each other and mutter the same words, "man, that party was crazy."

Someone's hand grasped onto his shoulder and his not-so-ninja-like reflexes caused him to whip around to see who was grabbing him. The face was blurry and his drunken stupor was making it difficult to focus on whoever had sought him out. He even questioned whether he actually knew the person. With those doubts, he didn't even pay full attention to what the person was telling him, not that he would've been able to regardless.

"Whoa, man" ... "gonna" … "super" … "Lava"

He nodded enthusiastically once he realized the person was done speaking. Why this stranger felt he needed to know about some superhero lava, he had no idea, but it was probably just a drunk thing. "Alright, man, awesome! I'll check it out," he slurred out, his voice loud and booming. He whirled around, wondering if he could remember to tell Jason Cross, as he was the movie buff and he would probably be curious about that shit.

He wondered off, pushing his way through the masses to refill his red cup. He stopped suddenly when something made it to his ears fully, the familiar beat of a 2 Chainz song. He grinned excitedly and in his uninhibited drunkenness, let out an uncharacteristic girly squeal. "I love this song!"

And everything regarding the mystery person and super lava and refills were quickly forgotten.

* * *

_(before.)_

"Hoops!"

Even with everyone in the hallway chattering in excitement about it being the last day of school, Troy Bolton could still hear his best friend's voice calling him by his nickname from way down the hall. He shut his now empty locker and turned in the direction where Chad Danforth was still fifteen feet away, carrying his basketball under his arm. When he got closer, he threw it to Troy who caught it easily.

"Cross agreed to have the party at his house tonight," Chad explained. Troy grinned. "You were right; his parents _are_ out of town tonight. Zeke's older brother is hooking us up with alcohol so he has that and food covered. If you could just send some texts out to get the word spreading, that would be awesome."

"What is your job, Chad?" Troy questioned, noticing that his best friend had no _real_ obligations in their party.

"Bossing everyone around, duh," he answered slyly. "I'm the official host of our first official senior party. We are going to remember tonight forever. When we're all old and in nursery homes, we'll just remember how memorable Chad's party was."

Troy rolled his eyes at how Chad was hyping up the party, but pulled his phone out of his pocket and started sending out texts to people he knew would forward it on. He didn't send too many before the two were joined by some of the females of the group.

"Hey ladies, you coming to the party tonight?" Chad asked. Troy looked up and smiled at his girlfriend, Gabriella Montez, who had finally arrived. She smiled back at him.

"Yes, because I want to see you fall on your face at being a party planner," Taylor McKessie told her boyfriend teasingly.

The curly haired male pouted at her. "Gee, thanks, love you too babe," he muttered. He looked smug. "My party's going to be awesome."

"We're going," Martha Cox offered, speaking up for her and Kelsi Nielson. "With all the studying, I haven't danced as much as I wanted to." She did a quick spin in the hallway. "I need to let loose."

"You guys will have to tell me how it went," Gabriella commented, speaking up. Chad perked up at this, while Troy didn't seem surprised.

"You're not coming?!" Chad moved to be closer to his best friend's girlfriend. "Dammit, Gabs, you never come to any parties. This is our _first_ senior party! You gotta come."

"Her mom is having her boss over for dinner; Gabby needs to be there to schmooze," Troy supplied. He mimicked Chad's move towards Gabriella, only he went a step further and slung his arm around her neck. "I told you, dude, that's why I'm busy tomorrow. Because we're hanging out." He wagged his finger back and forth between him and Gabriella. The petite brunette nodded her agreement to Troy's statements.

"Oh, right, well that's lame," Chad mumbled. The gang rolled their eyes at how quickly he brushed it off. "I guess then we'll see you bright and early Sunday morning at Lava Springs." For the second year in a row, most of the gang had landed jobs at the Lava Springs Country Club. They were all lucky enough to have their shifts all started on the first Sunday of summer vacation, though they were staggered throughout the day, depending on their position.

Gabriella pulled on her boyfriend, making sure he didn't go in defensive mode and end up accidentally outing her story and real reasons for missing parties to the whole group. "Sorry, Chad, I guess I'm just still a geek at heart."

He shrugged, not one to get truly mad. "Hey, if your Mom is the one doing the cooking, I know for a fact that will make part of your night better. And you'll remember everything and not have a hangover. You'll be the winner tomorrow." Gabriella smiled at him politely and his own grin went sly. "But not tonight. Because tonight," Chad reached and grabbed his best friend, straightening up as much as possible to be able to grab the taller boy by the shoulders less awkwardly, "tonight… we rage harder than we've ever raged before."

* * *

"_When I die bury me next to two bitches! …_"

He walked around the main floor of the Cross house before slamming into another person. This person seemed to be slightly clearer and the conversation was more focused.

"Baylor, haha, you're drunk," the voice reprimanded him. "Yeah, you're getting cut off, buddy. Taylor didn't drink much; I'll tell her to help you get home too."

"I'm not that drunk," Zeke Baylor responded defensively. "Dude, I thought your motto for the night was 'rage as hard as possible.'" He squinted at the blurry figure. "Wait, I'm talking to Chad, right?"

"Yeah," the reply came angrily. A blurry hand waved in front of Zeke's glazed over eyes. "See, wasted. And it's almost three, man. We've been going at it long enough. Cross wants his house back. We gotta leave so people will follow or continue to pass out."

"Fine," Zeke sighed in response. "I guess it's a good time to go sleep it off anyways."

"Thanks," Chad muttered. "Hey, have you seen Troy? I swear I haven't seen him in hours, but I lost track of time."

Zeke thought about it momentarily. Briefly his mind raced through people he talked with, superheroes, lava, and cheesy movies that Jason would probably like. But none of these clicked as interactions with Troy Bolton. "Nope, haven't talked to him all night. But Gabriella only lives one street over; maybe he went to see her? Or he's still somewhere around here?"

Chad nodded. He wasn't entirely convinced on either theory, but as he was still under the influence, he settled with them for the moment. "Yeah, you're probably right. Bolton's not dumb. He wouldn't do anything stupid." He grabbed his friend by the shoulders and drug him along. "Come on, dude, let's get you home."

**/**


	2. bad news bearer

**Thank you thank you thank youuu for the reviews. Hope you like this one as well! I'm pretty nervous about posting it, to be honest. **

**The beginning part is kind of graphic, but it is a car crash and I tried to make it descriptive, not just "Troy drunkenly crashed his car. Next scene." So it's probably borderline M-rated. I recommend reading at your own discretion. **

* * *

_And take all I've got from me, (I'm on my way) …_

_-Say Anything, "Baby Girl, I'm A Blur"_

* * *

His hands were shaking at the wheel as he navigated his truck along the road, his eyes blinking rapidly as he struggled to concentrate. At the deepest level of his sub-conscious, he knew he was making a mistake. He should've stayed at Jason's house or gone to Chad's just down the street. The deepest level screamed at him that this was only going to end in trouble.

But he didn't listen.

He wasn't too far from home; it was practically the homestretch. Just a few miles away from the exit he could get off on and use side streets and back roads to get home. The only thing that really separated was the small section of ravines around the river that made the freeway the only economical way to get from the east side to the west side.

He felt his truck swerve to the side of the road and he could hear the grinding of his tires hitting the warning bumps on the side. It was then he saw the flashing hazard lights of the car that was parked on the edge of the road, the car that he was only seconds from hitting. In his delayed reaction time, he managed to turn the wheel in the opposite direction.

He still clipped the stalled car just enough, that—as he would be informed later—in combination with his over-correction of the swerve and the apparently high speeds he was traveling at, caused his old white truck to go into a frenzy of spinning and tumbling across to the opposite side of the road and heading off into the grass to meet a sudden stop thanks to a tree on the edge before a 10 foot drop off into the river ravine.

By that point however, with his smashed in and collapsed front of the car pinning and crushing his legs, he was already fading in and out of consciousness, as he would repeatedly until arriving at the hospital when they would actually medicate him into blackness.

* * *

"Chad, wake up, son." Charlie Danforth pulled the covers off his son and shook him slightly, desperate to wake him up. "Chad, you need to get up."

The hung-over teen groaned and rolled over in his sleep, having only gone to bed barely two hours ago. His dad was persistent though and he finally cracked open his blurry eyes, enough to make out the time as being 5:13. He then looked at the shadow of his dad hovering over the bed.

"Dad I don't start work till tomorrow," he whined. "Let me sleeeeep."

"Chad, this is serious," Charlie stated firmly. "Troy was at your party last night, wasn't he?"

"What?" Chad briefly thought back about not being able to find Troy when he was leaving and his mind raced over a few ideas, but he shook it off. Troy wasn't that kind of person.

"Did you see him at the party?" Charlie tried a different way.

"Yeah, but not for the last few hours of it; I remember I asked Zeke and he hadn't seen him at all," Chad sat up. "Why? What's going on? I thought maybe he just stayed at Jason's and was already out of it."

"Jack called a few moments ago," Charlie started, sitting down on the bed in the darkness. "It's not good." Chad looked confused. "They got a call from the hospital. He was in a car accident, Chad," Charlie continued. "The Boltons are on their way to the hospital right now."

Chad sobered up instantly, jumping out of his bed. "Is it bad? He's ok, right? Can we go now? I need to see him. Dad, we need to go."

"Chad, what they know is pretty vague right now and us being there would just get in the way," Charlie told him. "We can wait a few hours till Jack and Luce get more information and go for there."

"How bad is he?" Chad asked again. "Do they have some idea?"

Charlie nodded. "Jack said they wanted verbal consent to send him immediately into surgery. It didn't sound good to him."

Chad's face fell.

"They promised they'd call as soon as they knew more," Charlie offered. "But you know your best friend. He's a strong kid. He'll be ok, Chad."

For some reason, neither Danforth seemed to have any sense of believing those words.

* * *

Gabriella checked her phone and then promptly double checked to make sure she didn't miss a text message or call, explaining why Troy hadn't shown up at her house yet for their date. She was giving him some credit since she knew he most likely drank a lot the night before and most likely over slept, and she also let it slide since she did plan for an early and long date, but now it was just ridiculous since he wasn't even answering his phone. She bit her lip, wondering if this was going to be like the last year at Lava Springs all over again.

She unlocked her iPhone and dialed his number one more time. "Hey, Troy, it's me again. I don't know what's going on but hey if you are too tired, it's fine. I can come over and we can watch movies. And if you did something wrong last night, we can work through it. We're stronger than last year. Love you." She hung up after finishing her voice mail and sighed, hoping he'd get it soon.

"Gabriella! I'm so sorry!" Maria Montez suddenly burst into the room, tears streaming down her face. Gabriella immediately started worrying. "My phone was on silent in my purse and I forgot about it, otherwise I would've seen the voicemails earlier." She sat Gabriella down on her bed and hugged her tightly. "Sweetie, I had a bunch of phone calls from Jack and Lucille. Troy was in a car accident last night."

Gabriella's eyes started watering, as that hadn't been even close to what she thought was going on. "Is he going to be ok?" she asked.

"Jack says he's been in surgery all morning," Maria offered. "He's still in there, but they think it might be over soon. They said you could wait around there."

Gabriella's phone buzzed on the bed and she picked it up quickly, hoping this was just a bad joke. The only text she was getting was one from Chad saying his dad was driving him and they'd stop by to pick her up. "Chad said he'd come get me," she told her Mom. She stood up. "I'm gonna change."

Maria nodded. "Just call me when you need to be picked up. I'm sure Troy will be fine. He'll get through this." She stood and left the room to go fix her own appearance.

Gabriella changed out of her date clothes into a pair of denim shorts and a T-shirt she had stolen from Troy. As she changed, she thought more about his accident. If it had happened before the party, she would've surely found out sooner, which meant it must've been on his way home from the party. It didn't take long for some little details to click in her mind and she let out a squeak, glancing at the picture of her and Troy from last summer at Lava Springs. They were happy and innocent looking, but now it was apparent that things weren't always going to be so innocent.

"Oh, Troy," she mumbled to the teen in the picture, "what did you do last night?"

* * *

It was quiet in the hospital waiting room, as Jack and Lucille huddled closely together on the small uncomfortable loveseat they had taken residence on since five in the morning. The OR waiting room was fairly quiet as it was a Saturday and most planned surgeries occurred during the week. There were only a few other people, most of which were there for the same reason they were: an accident had happened and they had never thought they'd spend their Saturday sitting in the hospital. The couple kept their hands locked together tightly, as they waited for another update to come in the lengthy surgery. Jack didn't know much about how surgical processes work, but when a young intern doctor came out to talk to them personally and go through things thoroughly, his mind immediately jumped to that things weren't going to be good: that the ideal and perfect ending wasn't possible anymore.

The first update had come shortly after they arrived; the young novice doctor they were becoming increasingly familiar with came out and walked them through how he arrived, what they knew of before his arrival, and the steps they were going to take to ensure that Troy's life following was going to be the best one possible. In the first update, there was more good news and only a little bad news. They had checked him out and there were no signs of any brain or spinal trauma. At first glance, they were fairly confident that they would get his crushed and damaged legs back to normal. It was a serious accident, but everything was aligned in his favor.

The first update was also the one where they were informed that Troy's blood alcohol content levels were well above the legal limit for an adult, which was made worse due to the fact that their son was only seventeen. There was also indication, especially considering the other car involved and the early witness statements, that Troy was at fault for the two-car accident. But in the grand scheme of it all, especially as updates kept coming, these details were very small.

The next update was much more bittersweet. They were still trucking along in the surgery, but the further they got, the more complicated his injuries ended up being. They were still optimistic regarding their abilities, but there was a stronger chance that the teen's quality of life he and most people took for granted was definitely going to change.

The third and most recent update was the one that shook the couple the most. Once again, the surgeons were working hard to do everything they could, but it was the first time they actually admitted to their patient's parents that he might have one less leg than he arrived at the hospital with.

"Charlie said he and the kids were just in the parking garage," Jack told his wife, after looking at his phone. Lucille was still in shock, her mind running through things she could have done to prevent this, to save her only son. "We're going to have to tell them soon."

"I don't know if I can," Lucille admitted. "I can't even process this."

"I can tell them," Jack offered. As a teacher, he had been giving the duty of covering hard topics many times. Telling his son's girlfriend and his best friend would be no different.

"Are you going to tell them everything?" Lucille looked up at him and wiped her eyes. She herself couldn't even utter the words on the inevitable.

Jack shook his head. "No, we're going to be positive, Luce. Let's not dwell on that."

"Why not?" she argued. "And how can you not? They seem pretty damn sure he's not going to be the same anymore." Her voice rose slightly, and some people glanced over at them, but they went back to their own worries.

"Because I can't just throw out all his dreams," Jack blurted out. He looked at his wife of eighteen years sadly. "All he wanted to do was play ball, Luce. Lots of schools were watching him, including Florida. You know how bad he wanted to be a Gator. He can't do that without basketball."

It was something that Jack and Lucille had always had in their minds, even stemming further past Troy's birth, when the two then-high school seniors found out about their little accident and had to grow up quicker than originally planned. Giving up their own dreams, both stayed local to Albuquerque, Jack being the only of the two to manage to squeeze out a college degree while Lucille took retail jobs before settling into a more stable position as a receptionist for a local accounting firm.

Money was also a huge focus. Compared to the cushy location of East High, where Jack had worked his whole post-grad career, and the houses of Troy's friends, the family of three lived on the western side of the city, the poorer, more middle class side. It was instilled in Troy's head early in his high school career that he was going to have to work hard for both a scholarship as well as half of whatever was remaining in his tuition if he was serious about college. Fortunately, as far as jobs went, the majority of his friends had parents who wanted them to have a good work ethic so they were able to all get jobs together.

"Well even in the worst case, he doesn't have to give that up, right? He can get some scholarships and go to his dream school," Lucille pointed out hopefully. "We have his college fund and he can take out some loans to fill in whatever's left."

"This is going to be a huge expense, Luce, and that's one of the few places where we have a good chunk of money saved," Jack admitted. "And you've seen his grades. Basketball was his only way to get there." Lucille nodded sadly, sniffling. "This sucks, Luce."

Lucille wiped her eyes with a tissue, having nothing to say.

Jack pulled his wife closer and kissed the top of her head. He then noticed Charlie, Chad, and Gabriella. The two teens looked meek and scared; Jack didn't blame them, as he knew none of them wanted to be here. Jack stood up to greet the older Danforth, who despite a fifteen year age difference between the pair was one of his closest friends, especially due to how close their two sons had always been.

"Hey, Jack, how's he doing?" Charlie asked somberly. Both men considered themselves to be 'manly men' and weren't ones to show emotions, but that didn't stop the older Danforth from pulling his friend into a comforting hug.

The thirty-six year old shrugged in the friendly and needed embrace. "He's been better. He's got a lot of obstacles ahead of him now."

"Troy's always been a tough kid; if anyone can get through this, it's him," Charlie offered positive thoughts. Jack couldn't help but think that this had to be the thing that ruined Troy's "anything is possible" attitude.

Charlie moved on to embrace Lucille, who burst into tears as she was enveloped into the hug. Jack turned to look at the two seventeen years old, worry filling their innocent eyes as they looked at him scared out of their minds.

"Coach?" Chad spoke up hesitantly. "Is he going to be able to play basketball this season?"

It was a twisted way of asking about Troy's wellbeing and while to some, it may seem selfish for Chad to only be worried about their senior season, but to Jack it made sense. It was a way to ask without having to actually say the words that would allude to demise. Jack almost grinned for the first time that day, appreciating the cleverness that Chad had come up with to get an answer that would explain so much so deeply, when on the surface, it was all about basketball.

"No, Danforth," Jack's lips stayed in a tight line as he talked. "He won't be playing this year." Chad's head dipped. "But I'm sure he'll come up with a way to still be a part of the team."

Chad nodded slowly, relieved with the response for that moment. "We don't call him Hoops for nothing." He nudged Gabriella. "He's going to be okay, Gabs."

Gabriella looked up at her boyfriend's father, her scientific brain clicking away with questions. "Is he though? Does he have brain damage?"

"No brain damage," Jack confirmed to her. "He's lucky in that sense." He glanced over at Lucille and Charlie, who were talking lowly as Lucille was clearly explaining in much more detail than he was offering the teens. "He'll still be Troy, no matter what."

"Bolton? Family of Troy?"

It was a new voice that entered the waiting room and everyone whirled around to face it. Lucille moved back to Jack, gripping onto his arm as an older and much more experienced doctor that the intern who they had talked with previously. Both knew that he was the lead doctor and if he was coming out, it meant things were finished.

The doctor strolled across the room towards them and extended his hand. "Dr. Oliver Monroe," he introduced himself to Jack and Lucille. "I am the head doctor on your son's case."

For Chad and Gabriella, the next ten minutes would eventually become a horrible blur.

* * *

There were many spots in the world that Chad decided he would rather be than Lava Springs. Of the main ones, one was a location thirty minutes away from the country club and was sterile and stark compared to his warm and inviting work place. The other one was a time machine so he could go back to just two days before and punch himself for being so desperate to be the host of the first party as a senior. Then he would make sure no party was happening because it just wasn't worth it. Nothing about the party was worth it anymore.

Everyone kept asking him about Troy and the more people he had to tell, the harder it became to speak the words that essentially admitted his best friend wasn't going to be the same anymore. Thirty miles away, his best friend was still medicated enough to have no idea what he lost, at least as far as he knew. At Lava Springs, Chad could look around and see that whoever had been told already or heard was somber and droning on in their day. He had even seen Gabriella completely break down when a little boy slipped near the pool and scraped up his right knee. Fulton had to give her an extra fifteen-minute break to settle down after that incident.

He made it to his car without running into anyone who had to ask him "where's Troy?" and turned on the engine so the air conditioning would kick in. He checked his phone, hoping to see any sign that his friend was fully awake finally. There was nothing except messages from people who had "heard things and wanted to know if they were true." He ignored the messages, not wanting to be the bad news bearer any longer.

He unwrapped his sandwich and ate it slowly, not having much of an appetite yet. It was hard to eat a sandwich that he and Troy both considered their favorite without his thoughts reverting back to the accident. He wondered how long it would take to get to a point where thoughts weren't about that. Chad also knew there was no way that this would be something to just get over, given the circumstances of all of it.

He finally finished off his sandwich and his phone buzzed in his lap. He looked at his iPhone screen, seeing a message alert from Coach. He swiped to open the message eagerly, reading the request for him to stop by after work. There was a little more about how having a friend come would be a helpful thing. Chad typed out his short answer and sent it quickly, not even needing to think twice about where he would go once his shift was over.

**/**

**If you're confused, don't hesitate to ask questions. **


End file.
